Camouflage

Camouflage is a non-fiction comic about autistic women. This was a surface-level introduction to the topic. It’s a short read so of course, it won’t be very in-depth but I wish it had more nuance.

I did like the illustrations and could relate to some of the things mentioned. Also important to note two things: this book does use the Asperger’s label which we know now is not an appropriate label. Second, the traits talked about for women and girls are not accurate for everyone. I’m assuming these traits are used to demonstrate differences based on basic research but it’s important to remember autism is a spectrum. For example, the author says that autistic women have an easier time socializing compared to autistic men when that’s not always the case.

So I do kind of wish it was emphasized that SOME autistic women have these traits instead of positioning it as “this is how autistic boys behave and this is how autistic girls behave” when that’s not the case for everyone, ie presented autism as the spectrum that it is.

Overall it was a quick read and had nice illustrations but I’m not sure I’d recommend it. Especially since I found out after I read it that the author isn’t autistic herself so it’s not own voices, and that may explain why it sounded so clinical and straightforward.